1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image analysis methods for resolving redundant identifications of an object. More specifically, the present invention relates to object identification schemes which obtain multiple representations of the same object when multiple searches of the same image are performed. Alternatively, object identification schemes may identify void, or donut-shaped objects when a single search, or multiple searches, of the image are performed. Further, the present invention is useful in resolving several distinct objects when either a single search or when multiple searches of the same image are performed, where other identification schemes have identified these distinct objects as a single clumped object. Such object identification schemes decide whether the identification of an object having one or more predetermined attributes and obtained from one representation of the object is redundant with another identification of the object which has at least one of the predetermined attributes and which is obtained from a different scan of the object. The present invention may be used, for instance, to determine whether a smaller object is contained within a previously identified, larger object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image analysis methods are known for identifying an object in a background. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,266 to Bacus. However, such image analysis methods are unable to discriminate between objects which overlap one another. For instance, in an object identification scheme, when viewing an image, which is a two-dimensional representation of an object, there may be several representations of an object which piggyback each other--i.e., overlie the same two-dimensional space in the image. These several representations may appear as only one object, but in reality should be identified as several objects. In other image identification schemes, multiple, overlapping objects are identified as a single clumped object and are not resolved into several, distinct objects.